Locked Away
by Karenin-Akbash-07
Summary: Isaac has always been afraid. Afraid of light, of sound, of textures and above all, of his mother. All of his life has happened inside the cage of his bedroom, so far, always locked and controlled...he certainly isn't ready for the real world...and yet, he yearns for freedom. We all know his freedom will have a high cost, thought.
1. Destruction

Skinny to the point of starvation, swollen belly, due to vermin, big scars all across his tiny, naked body. Completely bald, with his scalp filled with a myriad of cuts, mostly infected.

Deformed legs, curving outwards and fragile bones due to rachitism. Open wounds slowly being filled with maggots. Missing teeth, broken nose. Big brown eyes, usually red due to constant crying, with a desolate, broken expression.

This was the portrait of Isaac, now nine years old, having been locked in his bedroom and taken for missing by everyone since he was five.

Only God could know for sure everything he had gone through in his captivity. Time was blurry inside the always-dark room and the only true constants there were fear, drawings and the smell.

Ah, the smell… it was the most disgusting mix of years old piles of human feces, pools of urine, vomit, dead things, rotting "food", insect colonies, blood, disease and infection. Over time, Isaac had grown used to it, even deeming it at his own fault. After all, he was the one who made the mess, to begin with.

The only things that brought some humanity to this horrible place were the old, dirty Bible, his drawings and that one chest. Isaac remembered trying to kill himself by suffocating inside it…in the end, he had gotten out of it, crying more than he had ever cried before; rocking himself back and forth in a flimsy attempt to calm himself down and to convince himself that death wouldn't solve things, after all.

He wound up locking himself inside a different chest, after all.

Over time, Isaac had found out he wasn't as alone in his bedroom as he thought he was. In fact, there were five more persons with him.

Magdalene, the always girly lady, always talking to her little dead baby friends and longing for the old times, where Mom would put her in pretty dresses and put her in those pageants. Isaac remembered those as well, but didn't long for them the same way…he just wanted his mother to love him, to forgive his sins and to let him out.

There was also Cain, the boy who was always sick. Cain hated loud sounds, but loved gambling. He could always win another cent! He wasn't greedy, thought. He liked spending his money and even giving it. It just happened that he liked to play. Cain hated fiercely the Eyes, which he always shot down first. Isaac fully agreed with his opinion.

Judas was really scared of the world. The poor boy imagined himself as always in danger and was sure that God hated him enough to let him die. He saw himself as already lost and impossible to save and thus, he tried to find protection in the other side of things…Satan. Judas was very sensitive when it came to textures, and would refuse to touch anything that he didn't like the texture of. Not like there were many other choices anyway, Isaac though.

Then, there was Eve, who managed to be even more religious than Isaac himself, always praying, begging and crying. Eve loved animals, and would always carry her dead bird around, no matter how rotten it was, at this point. Eve hated to remember she was sinful, it hurt her, and she was always trying to fill her mind with bible-related thoughts in order to feel calmer. In made Isaac calmer too, so he could perfectly understand the devout girl.

Finally, there was Samsom. In the same way Judas was overly sensitive, Samsom was numb. He could take on any pain without complaints, since he didn't quite feel it, and often wound up hurting himself when nervous. Whenever any other personality of Isaac would cry, draw or make calming, repetitive gestures, Samsom would practically collapse, screaming, calling Mother, flailing his arms, hurting himself…acting like a lunatic. Isaac was afraid he would, one day, make Mom kill him out of rage.

That was it, Isaac and his many personalities, drawing about their adventures through the basement, down to some caves, conquering the Depths and finally defeating their mother to continue their adventure towards the only true responsible for their fate: Isaac, as a fetus, in the womb.

_This way I can have never been born._

His mind was filled with this little world, where things could be better, somehow, where there was some kind of hope for survival. A place with some happy times, like the Arcade, which Cain loved, or the Angel and Devil rooms, which delighted Eve and Judas.

It was a fantasy "paradise", a place to flee to in case things were…just too much to handle.

Maybe that was why he was so shocked to find one of his oldest and most treasured drawings coming to life before him.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

He had spent the day drawing, like always. He was in the middle of a nice run, having reached the Cathedral. He even remembered rerolling some Holy water into the inner eye! He was halfway drawing the room's Gurdy Jr., which he wasn't sure if he would be able to defeat, when it all happened.

First, there was his mother screaming outside, then, she was calling for him and banging at the door. The little kid immediately let go of his pencil and retreated to the corner of the room, near the shelf he had so many time dreamed it would save him.

His mother bursted through the door with an old, all too familiar butcher's knife.

Even now, he could feel the scar in his belly burning, hurting. The Bible hadn't saved him last time, it wouldn't save him now. He could only hope she wouldn't kill him, like she had nearly done so many times before.

He covered his head, completely silent, even if trembling. His mother placed a single candle on the ground, looking around for her son. Unlike Isaac, she wasn't used to dark places.

Thirty seven seconds. This was the time she took to spot the boy.

Isaac didn't to see it. The loud sound of her mother's shoe against the ground as she charged towards him was enough. He prayed it all would be gone quickly, he prayed she wouldn't just stab him and leave him rotting there once again. He prayed, above all, to be forgiven for all of his sins, whatever they were.

_Crack! Thump!_

This sound sequence snapped Isaac back to reality.

He was paralyzed, simply out of breath. Like in his drawings, his mother laid on the ground, knocked out by something that had fallen from the shelf.

The difference was that this time, the Bible still stood on it's place, firm and solid. What had fallen was, instead, the jar.

The boy couldn't believe it. Not even the sharp ceramic shards digging deep into his feet as he walked towards his unconscious mother mattered right now.

She was bleeding profusely, both due to the shards and the impact against the ground. All of her one hundred kilograms splattered around like some sort of jelly.

He approached, ready to raise his feet and step on her, like in the drawing.

The knife went deeply into the boy's thigh, jagged edges hurting even more. Isaac screamed, less in pain than in surprise and fear.

His mother was still awake, after all, and not happy at all about the broken vase.

Isaac had to be quick. He grabbed his mother's hand, trying to get the knife out of her hand and away from him. He was pulling it downwards, thought, and his own flesh was an additional resistance.

She was stronger than him, if this took much longer, she could easily cut everything down to his foot. He used his other leg to kick her head, to which she replied by trying to stand up. Isaac pressed her head against the ground.

"ISAAC!"

Somehow, her head had gotten stuck on a particularly sharp ceramic piece, now being shoved deeper into her head. She tightened her grip on the knife, practically ignoring the boy's desperate attempts to stop the blade from hurting him even more.

He screamed, kicked, scratched and, finally, bit her hand. She almost let go of it. Another well-delivered kick and she finally, she gave up on her weapon.

He hesitated for a single second, but the sight of his bleeding mother attempting, once again, to regain enough balance to stand up made him panic and act by instinct.

He started stabbing her, making the blade go deeper and deeper into her back, not listening to her agonizing screams as she bled out. It was difficult to make the knife cut, but fear gave him almost supernatural strength.

He probably hit her more than twenty times before realizing what he had just done. He left the knife in the now lifeless corpse of his mother and stepped back, limping.

He fell to the ground, crying. It wasn't like in the drawing. Not at all. It felt terrible, wrong…he sure was going to rot in hell now. He laid there, in fetal position, hand frenetically tapping on the ground while he sobbed.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"What in heavens has happened there?"

This was the question that crossed the minds of the police officers when they arrived at the horrible smelling room while investigating the lone house at the top of the hill.

They had received a call sooner about screams coming from the house. Apparently, there were two voices, despite the fact the only resident was Sarah Miller, a 48 year old woman who only ever left her house for going to the church.

The caller had been a bird watched who happened to be looking for owls nearby when he heard the sounds. He was too scared to go near the house and so, he had called the authorities.

Heavens knew how good of a decision that had been.

The flashlights, probably the strongest light the room had received in years, revealed each horrible detail of the crime scene. It was almost surreal…none of them had ever seem such a scene, especially not in this peaceful town.

Sarah was checked on, she had no pulse and wasn't breathing. One of them quickly started to try a resurrection, even knowing it was unlikely it would help there. Another one left the room to call reinforcements and an ambulance.

More sobbing sounds. Flashlights were quickly turned in all directions before revealing the crying child in the ground.

There were no reports of anyone living with Sarah since her husband's death and son's disappearance. No one approached her house, either, due to her grumpiness when away from the church. And yet, there we had a naked, weeping kid curled up in the ground next to Sarah's dead body.

Millions of possible reasons sparked on their minds to explain the bizarre situation.

Finally, one of them, a female cop who had three kids of her own, decided to approach him. She went on her knees and slowly, extended her hand until she touched his head.

"_AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_"

His scream was bloodcurling.

She quickly stepped away, eyes wide in fear as the kid sat up, flailing his arms, contorting himself, rocking back and forth, almost hitting his head against the ground, scratching his neck and hitting the floor with his feet.

None of them was expecting that. The woman was paralyzed, without knowing what to do. In the end, she didn't need to do anything, other two officers left what they were doing and contained the child. He wasn't strong, but his movements were erratic and it was difficult to hold him properly.

Finally, they managed to take him out of the room and landed him in the living room's couch, still screaming.

"_Mom! Mom! Mommy! Ahhhhhhhhhghh!_"

The officers looked at each other. A couple nods and one of them tried to talk to him:

"Isaac? Isaac Miler?"

The kid shivered and went silent for a single minute before resuming his desperate yells and calls.

They had no time to properly understand the implications of that before the sound of loud sirens took the air and more officers came in, along with the doctors, who took to kid away as soon as they managed to.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

**Greetings, internet! Here I come with a new fanfic, this time for The Binding of Isaac! We are incredibly short on those…so I decided to start one of my own, obviously!**

**I hope you like this beginning…it is always the most difficult part to do : / Anyway, do you have a suggestion? An idea? An opinion? Review! : D I really want to know what you think, since this is new territory for me! : P**

**Just a side note: I decided not to mention the name of the town. Reason? I can't come up with a good name. : P **


	2. Lights

It was hard to understand how things could have gone that way for the child. He was starved, dehydrated and it seemed like every inch of him was covered in wounds and scars, most of them horribly infected and a couple showing signs of necrosis, being feasted on by maggots.

Truly a horrible sight, which touched deep within the hearts of ones trying to hold the child for enough time for him to be sedated.

His screams could be heard from far away, probably, especially seeing how silent usual nights were. Outside the ambulance, it was possible to see the officers closing the perimeter, talking to a man with glasses, probably the one who had called them on first place. Some of them were also examining the outside of the house, looking for clues and one could bet more of them were doing so inside.

Finally, they managed to hold Isaac in place for enough time for the injection to be applied. It took approximately five minutes for him to sleep, much more than what would be expected for a kid this small.

The doors were closed and the child was quickly taken to the nearest hospital. His situation was an emergency and required immediate care, if they wanted to give him the best chances to survive with as little scars as possible.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Soon enough, his full situation became clear. He reacted strongly to the bright hospital lights and even to the unknown textures of the bed sheets, fighting and trashing around crazily until he was once again sedated.

His fits were so difficult to contain that the doctors finally decided that, at least while his situation was emergencial, it was the best to keep him constantly asleep, being fed through a feeding tube. This would prevent him from further damaging himself.

The child's immunologic system behaved weirdly, fluctuating seemingly at random from being strong to an almost suppressed state. This made him especially susceptible to diseases and prolonged his stay at the ER.

It took him almost two weeks to be able to behave calmly enough to be kept awake. At this point, too, his situation was no longer too dangerous. Besides some complications, such as a couple additional infections, he could be treated quickly.

While that, the whole town had started hearing about the case, with the mystery slowly being solved by a perplexed police.

The fact that this kid had been hidden away by his own mother and declared as missing by her was beyond anyone's comprehension. How could it be possible? Such a sweet, devout lady! And now she was dead, paying for her crimes in hell. As for who had killed her, it didn't take more than a single DNA sample in the knife to find out. The question was what should be done in relation to that.

Isaac had acted in self-defense, as the newest wound on him showed, he was smaller, weaker and scared, anyone would have done that! Except for the fact he had stabbed down twenty seven times, which was unlikely in any true self-defense case.

In a way or another, it was difficult to determine whether or not the kid deserved any kind of punishment. The whole town already agreed that he should, instead, be praised for having survived so long without greater damage.

The doctors could easily laugh at those affirmations.

It was clear that Isaac's scars weren't just physical, but mental. For once, it was discovered that the reason he had behaved like he had done when first arriving to the hospital was a mix of: Strangers, strong lights, guilt, pain and confusion. It was simply too much for him to handle, and his reaction was an instinctive action to get rid of the turmoil of things going on all at once around him.

Getting used to the hospital's routine slowly brought him back to reality, thought, even of some things still startled him, such as lights suddenly being turned on or off. It was an slow process, which took around two months before he was more or less stable.

The staff soon grew attached to the kid, loving him even more each time a new detail about his experience in the house was revealed, especially when it explained parts of his behavior. For example, Isaac refused to eat and the reason was simple: For four years he had been fed exclusively dog food and now he couldn't stand the taste of anything else.

When calm, Isaac would simply stay in his bed, praying lowly and sometimes crying a bit. He was a scaredy child, fragile and even paranoid about certain things. He was also kind and innocent, full of good intentions and with a vivid, even if slightly disturbing, imagination.

For a while, the kid was flooded with visitors, a complete surprise for all of the hospital's staff. He was greatly disturbed by this and would often just start screaming and trying to flee the room when he felt there were more people than he could deal with. It was understandable, since he had never really gotten chance to socialize and to learn how to interact with people.

After his fourth fit caused by an excessive amount of visitors, the hospital decided to prohibit anyone outside the police to visit him. Well, technically his family too, but it was found out that the only bit of a family he had left was his now dead mother.

On the police's side, things went all the smoother, investigation wise. There was not much to be done, since most people avoided the house. The only frequent visitors were the said bird watcher, who strolled around sometimes to get a good view on a special owl nest and a couple drug addicts, who had decided the back of the house, near the window that led to Isaac's room was a good place for getting themselves speedball shots. They had nothing to do with the case, thought. They were arrested anyway, for obvious reasons.

Inside the room, they found some things that probably belonged to Isaac. A chest containing nothing but paper, pencils and, eerily, a small, hand-made noose. They also found: An old eye patch, a couple wigs, A bandana, some old rests of his other's make up, a little fez hat and an alarming amount of old medication laying around.

Since everything was pretty much already solved, the harmless collection of dress ups was washed and given to Isaac, who reacted to having some of his things back in the most cheerful way possible for the kid.

In fact, he only thing left to do was to decide about Isaac's destiny. He certainly couldn't stay in the hospital forever and would surely need psychological accompaniment, besides educational one, to compensate for his years away from school.

His future was as uncertain as it could possibly be.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was the first week of his third month in the hospital. Truth to be told, he didn't really need to be there anymore, other than for monitoring purposes. The only thing he still had trouble with was food; he hated everything that was given to him, but preferred eating than going back to the feeding tube.

What he really needed was a new, definitive home. It just happened that he had nowhere to go. In such a small town, there wasn't even an orphanage around, and even if there was, it would certainly be difficult to get little Isaac to get there without completely regressing back into his panicked fits.

He had to be adopted, that was for sure, but given all the difficulties he would have in life…it would be difficult to find a suitable family for him, even if there were more than enough volunteers, families touched by his sad story.

Even thought the doctors and nurses were worried about this, the cleaning crew was somewhat happy for the child's presence. They were simpler people, with big hearts, even if they didn't completely have a grasp on his situation. Every day, they would stop by to try to chat a bit with the kid while cleaning the room he was in, which was only occasionally shared by some sick children.

Today was no different.

"Good morning, Isaac! Had a good night?"

This particular janitor was a young man who feared needles to the point his job was uncanny. He always managed to drop something to the ground, which was partly the reason he only cleaned the least risky areas of the hospital, including Isaac's room.

In response to this, the kid simply made a small gesture with his head and smiled at the ground, which he was staring at. Isaac didn't like speaking much, preferring to keep himself, which was understandable, seeing that having people that cared for him around was something completely new to him.

The janitor sighed. Sometimes it was kind of annoying to try to make him react, even if he knew that, deep down, the kid was trying his best to be nice.

"I will take that as a yes, alright?"

He didn't reply, remaining motionless on his bed.

At the door, a nurse appeared. She was there to check on the kid, as always.

"Oh, please, Nick, didn't I tell you to stop annoying him?"

"I was just cleaning! Jeez, Lucy, can't you stop nagging around?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Just hurry up, okay? I think that old lady on room 304 will give you a hard time today. She isn't feeling well, even with the medicine."

"Come on! It is Friday, for God's sake!"

With this, he silently started to clean the room, mumbling beneath his breath about how he hated his job.

Isaac slowly moved his head, looking at the nurse who was preparing a needle. He never exactly knew what was on it and he had even asked once, only to have her say it was an special medicine.

Isaac didn't exactly like needles, but he didn't hate them either…He remembered having one thrown inside his room one time, when his mother had left his window open at night, after shaving his head. Whatever was inside it, it was both good and horrible, making him feel weird…At first, like everything was fast and like time was not moving…but then… everything was a painful mess of things that he couldn't describe. He remembered throwing himself against the door, screaming and begging his mom to help him, so much his heart hurt.

In the end, his mother indeed came in…with her good old whip.

"Now, extend your arm, Isaac"

The nurse was ready to apply the shot. The child did as told, already used to it by now. The nurse touched the inner part of his elbow, searching his vein and, finally, did her work.

After a few questions and other medicines, she was gone, along with the janitor and Isaac could enjoy the rest of the day by himself, without having to worry about anything.

He loved the hospital. He really did. It was the best place he had ever seem! Everything was just so nice…in the beginning, it had been really scary and painful, but he had learned to deal with it and, somehow, things had gotten better, like nothing had ever done in his life.

He started praying, thanking God once again for having freed him from his Hell… and apologizing as much as he could for all his sins, hoping he would one day be forgiven. He didn't think God would forgive him soon, thought. Not when he was such a worthless sinner.

He shivered. He was starting to sound like Eve… he didn't really want her to take control right now. Only he had been warned about the changes, after all! Who knew how the others would react! Maybe Maggy would like, thought… but Judas would certainly freak out! The texture of his bed, already bad to Isaac, would certainly be unbearable for the scaredy, sensitive traitor.

He wish he could have some paper and a pencil to draw with, right now… another run through the basement would certainly calm him down.

Maybe he could even make some friendlier places in the depths! He sure wanted to have an excuse to re-do his little Dark Boy drawing once again. Maybe he could run as Eve, to keep her locked on his head, too…not like it would work very well, but he knew it would help. Eve was way more behaved and simper to keep away than, say…Maggy.

Unknowingly to him, a couple he had never seen before had just entered the room.

The man was carrying a bag. It was intended to have some things to cheer up his father, who was sick, but the hospital hadn't allowed most things to the brought in. By his side, his wife seemed rather bored. She wasn't exactly fond of the old man, even if she felt bad for him being sick.

They had gotten lost, trying to find the room in which he was and had wound up entering Isaac's room, hoping this to be the right one.

"Come on, we should ask someone…"

"Are you serious? I am sure his room is around here! I could swear this was the one…"

Isaac almost jumped out of his bed in response to the sudden sound of people talking. He didn't like unknown sounds, they scared him.

The couple, noticing the kid , stopping talking to each other.

Isaac took a deep breath. Maybe they were new doctors? Or even a new part of the cleaning crew...They were whispering something. If that was supposed to be silent, they were utterly failing. Cain would certainly understand their words and perhaps be even a little uncomfortable with the mess of sounds going on, even from outside his room.

Isaac wanted to know what they were talking about. Or, better saying, Maggy wanted to and certainly would stay still while Isaac talked.

"Hello? Are you doctors?"

They looked at each other and, finally, the woman replied.

"I am sorry, we aren't…we are just lost, sorry for disturbing you"

Her voice was a bit sad. They were just visitors in the town and, even then, they had heard about the poor kid practically living in the hospital. Her husband's mother had been especially eager to show them the newspaper about it and to give them a long lesson on religion, which was only bad because of how boring she managed to make it be.

She certainly did not expect to get to meet with the little kid whose photo was on the first page like this.

"You aren't _dish turbing._ You are real loud, but Maggy wants to talk"

Isaac's voice was…disturbing. Small, whispery, childish and with a…robotic thing to it. It was clear that he wasn't used to talk to people.

"Mary, let's go, dad is waiting…"

"Go ahead, dear. He is your father, after all. I will be here, alright?"

"Are you crazy? We don't have permission…"

She looked at him and he had to stop for a while. He sighed. It wasn't her fault, after all. Kids were Mary's greatest weak spot and she just plain loved them, seeing that she couldn't have a child of her own.

"Alright, alright! I will stay here with you, too. Dad won't like it, thought…you are going to have to apologize next time we come and see him"

His voice was sweet, even if a little worried by the fact his father was really waiting for them. He couldn't just leave Mary behind to get scolded by the hospital, thought. He was supposed to protect her, after all.

"Thanks, sweetie…"

All the while, Isaac watched them with a scared expression. The only bits of comfort were the familiar floating babies he imagined floating around the talking couple. The man looked like he could get Rainbow Baby, and the woman certainly would be a great home to Robo baby… Maybe Guppy's hairball too, since they were obviously married, and the Hairball was a nice way to symbolize union, since it was made from the union of many things, too.

The woman walked up to him. The kid could almost feel Robo baby's red glassy eye against his forehead as he loosely flew near the woman.

"I am Mary. What is your name?"

Eve almost shrieked in happiness. A biblical name! How very nice! Isaac, in another hand, was trembling. The only reason people ever got this near him was to hit him…or maybe that was just his mother? It was hard to say.

Stuttering, he answered.

"I-Isaac. "

She smiled kindly and sat by side, trying to look as caring as possible to gain his trust. Sadly, she was just making it worse.

"That is one lovely name!"

Both Eve's and Maggy's thoughts made their way to Isaac's mouth as he replied.

"Because it is like in the Bible, with a Sacrifice to God named Isaac, someone to murder him and something stopping that from happening. I know God gave me that name as a warning!"

Mary regretted having asking.

"But now it is over and there is no more need for sacrifices, especially because I am more than a sacrifice to God."

"Oh…what else are you, Isaac? A warrior? A priest?"

It was best this way, avoiding the whole reason why Mary knew about the poor child in the first place.

"Many things. A traitor, a murderer, a whore, a sinner and one who was deceived!"

He sounded extremely cheerful saying this, despite of how horrible those words sounded. Mary glanced at Richard, who was still the at the door, thought watching the scene, touched. He wasn't as emotionally sensitive as his wife, but he had a big, good heart deep down.

"Don't say that of yourself, uh…Isaac. I can assure you aren't any horrible things."

He finally made his way to near Isaac, staying near his wife with a warm smile. With everyone sharing the most recent developments on the case of Isaac Miller, he knew a lot of what had happened to this child.

Most of the reason why he didn't want to stay was because he didn't want to have to look at the poor kid for real, given how horrible his tale was. Looking at him now felt really…desolate. A poor little lamb who had lost its way in life.

"God loves you a lot, be sure of that. You are more like a little angel than anything else"

He didn't even need to try to sound paternal and caring, it just came naturally to him whenever he felt something was wrong.

"I agree completely! Now, sweetheart, why don't we talk about something fun?"

His wife might not be as good with words, but she was certainly more sensible about what to talk about with such a scarred one.

Isaac was now staring intensely at Richard's tie, surprised by the fact he had spoken after staying silent while his wife was talking. He hadn't liked being told otherwise, but his words were really…warm and with the texture of moist and warm wood, like Judas would put it.

Robo baby was now circling around Rainbow Baby. And Rainbow was crying psychic tears at a vase, even if it would never break from them.

"Rainbow is having lots of fun."

This probably wasn't the right answer, but the question itself had been ridiculously ambiguous as to whether she expected a yes/no answer or something else.

She felt relieved. Finally something less tense!

"Who is rainbow?"

"He is a flying baby... He is flying near Robo baby. "

"Oh…uh…that is a lot of babies!"

"And who is this Robo?"

This was Richard speaking, curious about the kid's imaginary friends.

"Robo is like Rainbow, but he is grey. He shoots technology two"

"He…shoots technology?"

Mary could have started laughing if it wasn't for the fact the child probably didn't know the meaning of his own words. Probably he just couldn't see 'technology' as a abstract conceptor something like that.

"He shoots technology? Yes. It is good against Knights. Maggy likes him. Maggy likes many familiars that cry. Eve is scared of them. Eve prefers Dead bird and Cain likes Abel and spoils him. Maggy doesn't like Cain spoiling Abel."

Mary and Richard exchanged worried glances. Imaginary friends was a thing, but this kind of reply was too weird and nonsensical to be normal. As he talked, his voice was really low and his eyes, fixed on the ceiling, as if he could actually see everything he was describing. Without noticing, he had started moving his hands in an awkward manner, moving them up and down quickly to make his wrists move.

"That is…uh..interesting…"

To tell the truth, Mary had missed most of what he had said. Richard didn't know what to say, either. The kid was just there, staring at the nothing and waiting for a reply, agitated, but otherwise much happier about this particular visit than about any other.

Without warning, the room's door was opened, revealing the same nurse Isaac was used to see in the morning, now carrying his lunch with her.

"Sorry for the delay, Isaac, I kind of tripped on my way he-"

She stared at the non-scheduled visitors, taking a minute to understand why there were more people in this particular room when no other patients were there.

"Excuse me? Do you have permission to be here?"

Richard was about to start a serious flood of apologies, but it was Isaac who intervened, momentarily staring at the nurse with those big, desperate eyes of his.

"They are good. Maggy likes them a lot. I want to stay and show them the basement."

The nurse almost dropped the trail she was holding in surprise. His speech was confuse, sign he was nervous, but Isaac wanting visitors was something completely unexpected! The kid instinctively associated unknown people with danger and pain, becoming nervous and increasingly distressed for as long as the person was an important happening.

"Are you sure, Isaac?"

"I am."

The nurse stared at the couple standing near the child. This was simply too unlikely to happen… Maybe they reminded him of the time before he was locked away? It was possible…She had to talk to the doctor responsible directly for Isaac about this.

She turned around to the couple, eyes bright in excitement and some curiosity.

"Who are you two?"

They hurriedly apologized for their intermission in other patient's room and introduced themselves.

"Don't you two worry. It is actually nice to see Isaac actually willing to interact with people…I am actually glad you two came here, despite having your own relatives here."

Richard seemed embarrassed at the situation, while Mary practically retreated into her sweater.  
"I want to show them the basement."

The nurse sighed. Obviously he would want to. The basement was what he called his little imaginary world full of weird critters and friends…it was a really disturbing place, too, and no one felt quite at easy when he started talking about it. Somehow, it seemed just too…personal, too drenched in the terrible memories and experiences he was forced to carry with himself.

"Can I talk to them, first? It won't take long, alright? While take, take your soup."

She put the trail in the little bed table. He frowned and started to eat anyway, visibly disgusted by the flavor.

"Do you two have time to come have a talk outside?"

Mary immediately stood up, nodding. A part of her sensed that this wasn't a conversation with the nurse anymore, but rather, with the woman who probably took care of the child and that cared for him in a personal way.

Richard , shyer in nature, followed soon after.

The corridor of hospital was a weirdly peaceful place, which was rare for hospitals. Then again, this whole area was less crowded and more peaceful. It was a place for the patients that needed rest and monitoring above all else, differently from the always crowded and unrestful emergency rooms.

"My name is Lucy. I am the one that takes care of Isaac in the basic things, you see. A small crew of doctors keep their eyes on him, in case something goes wrong, thought. "

Mary's suspicion was right. She smiled at the woman sweetly, trying to show some sympathy. I must be very hard for such a young nurse to carry such responsibility over the fate of a child…

Lucy sigh, showing exhaustion.

"I don't know if his sudden acceptance of strangers could have come in a better hour…I need to thank you, a personal thank you. I really care for him, you see. He was just so miserable and desperate when he arrived! And look at how much he has progressed!"

She was on the verge of tears. It wasn't only because of this incident, but rather, due to everything that she had seem surrounding him.

None of them knew how to reply to the nurse.

"I have two girls home… they are so lively and cheerful…I keep asking myself what would happen if one day I found one of them on his place…May God forgive if that ever happens…"

Mary felt her throat dry and Richard took a stronger grip of her arm.

"Do you have any children, Mrs. Simons?"

This was the last name the couple shared. Mary forcefully made a negative gesture. Heavens knew what she would do for one…

"I am sterile."

Her answer was dry and sorrowful.

"Oh…I am sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Don't worry, I didn't take offense. You had no way to know, anyway."

A brief silence took the place, only interrupted by the sound of the spoon Isaac was holding against the plastic plate.

"What do you two think of him?"

It was Richard who replied.

"The poor kid…he just seems scared, but nice…then again, we only stayed with him for a short while"

"He is…Isaac is really kind and creative, behind everything, you see… we are currently in search for anyone apt to adopt him "

Mary's eye suddenly went to and room's door and back to the nurse. Was she suggesting anything?

"You see, it happens that finding any suitable family for him would take a long while…both because of some requirements and because whoever took him would need to meet directly with him to see whether he would become used to them or not…"

Mary interrupted, her heart pounding.

"Are you suggesting we to adopt him?"

The nurse smiled kindly.

"I am suggesting you to try. As I said, many requirements…but at least one, you already meet: He likes you two."

With this, the nurse got back into the room to get the plate back and administer some medications on him.

The couple looked at each other, eyes wide. Maybe they had a chance, right? A chance to have a child, and more, a child that desperately needed a caring home after facing his own hell for years.

"We can try"

Richard whispered. Mary nodded in response.

Maybe not visiting Richard's father had been a better decision than is had seemed like. They both went inside the room once again, this time with a completely different mindset towards the boy.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o


	3. Sky

The process to find a suitable family for Isaac was a complicated one, despite the sheer amount of families willing to let the poor child into their lives. The truth was that the child would need far more than compassion and love to be able to adapt to the world he had been taken from.

Most of the families that signed up to try to adopt him soon backed off, scared by the long list of troubles they could have with him and by the possible costs for the psychological accompaniment. Out of the remaining ones, which stated to have condition to deal with whatever challenges they were met with, even less met other requirements.

Those other requirements ranged from an appropriate psychological profile, no history of violence or tendency to commit crimes to living far away enough from the child's former home and having enough flexibility in their routines to adapt to the changes that would happen once Isaac met his new life.

There was no room for error. Isaac's future depended entirely in how his new family would help him to overcome the mental scars from his dreadful experience. In the end it all went down to three possible families that, despite not meeting perfectly all requirements, came really close to it:

The Muñóz, a family with Spanish ancestry that resided in New York. They had a teenage girl and had impeccable past history. A somewhat old, rich couple with an enormous heart and patience. The only problem with them was that the place they live was a particularly crowded part of the city. The doctors weren't sure of how Isaac would react to all the agitation of the city, especially after how badly he had first reacted to the Hospital's environment.

There were also the Jacobs, a younger and not so rich couple that lived in a big farm in the south. They were a very Christian family with strict rules and routines, which would certainly help Isaac to adapt. Despite the distance between their house and the nearest hospital, they had the resources to go there with regularity. Their trouble was the presence of nothing else than four other children home, ranging from a 3 year old to a 17 year old. This could keep Isaac way more tense than he should and would certainly bring conflicts.

Finally, there were the Simons. A family without children and no possibility for them other than adoption, that would certainly give Isaac as much love as one could possibly ask for. They had the resources to sustain him, being just as rich as the Jacobs. They also lived in a little town 200 kilometers north from there, in a big suburb house. Both were devout and lived a calm life. Their only trouble was the fact they had to travel with some regularity, especially the woman, who was the principal responsible for the house's finances.

It was a tough decision, but they only needed one additional information to decide: Isaac had already met and liked the Simons.

And thus, began the process of getting Isaac used to the idea he would soon leave the hospital to go live with a new family.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

At first, Isaac was deadly scared. He didn't want to leave the hospital, afraid he was going to go back to his house. It took quite a while to convince him he wasn't going back there or anywhere near it never again and even then, he was very nervous about the change.

The Simons took a few days to prepare another trip to the town, partially due to the bad weather and partially due their excitation and need to re-organize their routine to get everything perfect for when Isaac was finally with them.

The visits really helped to calm Isaac down about the change and the doctors assured him everything would be just fine from now on. No more pain, no more locked doors and no more of his old mother.

The doctors were glad he had found a family before his treatments would end. All that was really left were a couple little plastic procedures to minimize the deformities cause by a cleft lip that, unexplainably, had never been treated before. The palate wasn't cleft, luckily, but the hole reached his left nostril, making the scars left from the surgery to fix it more noticeable than normal.

The Simons were also kind enough to buy him some new clothes beforehand, since he obviously couldn't just travel on hospital clothes. Isaac hated every single second of having to stay with them, thought, due to having never really gotten the time to get used to real clothing in the past.

Other troubles popped up here and there, such as how would Isaac deal with a plane, but those were soon either solved or dealt with by warning the child and preparing emergency plans in case everything went wrong.

Despite the stress, both Mary and Richard were happy. Everything seemed to be going just so perfectly! It was like a dream. Well, would be, if it wasn't for the fact that Richard's father healed faster than expected from his illness and decided that this was the perfect opportunity to burn all of his money with enough barbecues to make anyone get fatter just from staring too long at him.

Approximately one month later, the doctors decided he was prepared, both physically and mentally, to cope with a new family, a new life.

The local newspaper was more than happy to finally give the story that had given them so much money over the last months a happy end. The whole town was glad to see the poor kid would have a new home and all grandmothers in the town decided to tell this story to their grandchildren as a life lesson….or something among those lines.

Isaac's last day in the town was marked by a rain of gifts from citizens, including flowers, cards and all kinds of little saints you can think of. The nurses and the cleaning crew also organized him a little party, thought nothing too loud or big, just some cake and chocolates for everyone, including other patients that could eat such things. Sadly, Isaac hated the cake, but gladly welcomed some of the tiny, hard sweets, which were a more familiar texture to him, despite the taste.

The Simons were there too, and even gave him a gift of their own: A book proper for drawing and a set of pencils. In their visits, they had noticed that Isaac loved to draw, often requesting them to give him something in which he could draw the creatures from the basement to show them.

It was sure a weird, morbid art, but it was still impressive for a boy this young. The sweetness of the moments of watching him draw was often ruined, thought, by him talking about how he had "discovered" each monster while locked in his room. The stories varied from the first time he had found himself forced to urinate on his room's floor to brutal attacks by his mother. Heaven's knew how terribly messed up was Gurdy's backstory… the enormous cut through his belly now had an even worse connotation.

In a way or another, it was time to put everything in the past and bid farewell to the place in which the nightmare had taken place.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It was raining outside. Isaac watched the little droplets, amazed by their trajectories down the window. He was wearing the clothes he had agreed to wear for the travel, even if they felt uncomfortable and rough against his skin. At least they had cut the tag off, since Judas was almost crying out of pain because of it. They were simply shorts and a light, white blouse. He had also agreed to wear a coat, but that one was on the bag, with the rest of his things. He kind of liked the coat, its texture was really warm and soft and its color, blue, was pretty too.

It was the day of leaving, after all. He was afraid, even if Maggy and the doctors had told him everything would be fine. Eve, thought, kept telling him that they, as sinners, shouldn't be allowed to leave their town and that, if they did, they should pray as much as much as possible to avoid being killed by the divine wrath.

Did they have a church on the new town? They probably did, since Mary and Simon were good persons and his mother had told him only people that go to the church were good.

Eve pointed out that he had never been in a church…at least not that he remembered.

He really wanted to be in a real church. Like the Cathedral, but less dangerous. He wondered if they had lots of flies there, too. Samson liked flies, but Cain liked them the most.

He looked at the wall, checking the time and date. November sixth, five in the morning. They should arrive any time soon, now. In one hour, to be exact. They had told him things about going in a thing called plane, which could make them fly. It sounded both terrifying and great, gaining mixed reactions from all the others. Cain was the most anxious in relation to what could happen, especially if it was as noisy as they had told him.

He was happy that none of his friends wanted to show themselves today. Imagine how horrible would be to lose this day to any of them!

It would be just as bad as having to fight the Mask of Infamy with only speed downgrades. Or champion mom… the red only, most specifically. Not that it really mattered; fighting mom was always terrible anyway.

He lost himself in thoughts for a long while, recreating old runs over and over, trying to get better results. A part of him felt really bitter about fighting Mom now that she was dead… he couldn't help but to feel guilty over it. Guilty over every single thing he had ever done in his life.

Eve pointed out that this just made her even more right.

One hour went by quickly, without Isaac even noticing. The Simons still took a good fifteen minutes to arrive, thought, accompanied by Nurse Lucy.

"Isaac? Are you awake, sweetie?"

He turned around, startled by the noise. No matter how much time would pass, he would always be scared of loud sounds, mostly due to Cain practically jumping in fear and even pain, sometimes.

"Awake"

Nurse Lucy smiled and made a gesture indicating that Richard and Mary could enter now. Isaac didn't exactly know how to react to show how happy he was they had arrived. He never had to do that before their visits and the nurse couldn't explain him how to get his message across.

Mary took care of this for him, thought, by giving him a tight hug and a kiss in the forehead. Judas practically screamed, quickly muttering overlapping complaints: Texture of clothes, texture of skin, temperature, pressure of the hug… Isaac didn't show this, thought, simply enjoying the sensation of having someone caring that much about him. His new mother…

While this, the nurse quickly prepared the last medication for him to take while in the hospital. He would still have to take some pills for a while, of course, but those were simply "to avoid complications", as Nurse Lucy had explained.

"Are you ready, Isaac? To go home?"

Isaac simply nodded, smiling the best he could in response.

Richard, who was already carrying the last bags for the travel, was the one to speak next.

"Alright! Guess it is time for you to put on your coat so we can leave already!"

He was really excited about all of this. Despite all expectation, he had been the one to organize most things, from getting psychologist to contacting schools to see if they could offer Isaac the support he would need to compensate for the years away from it.

"My things. Are they there?"

"Of course!"

He moved one of the bags to show him where they were.

"His coat is on the blue bag, dear. Can you get it?"

"Which one?"

Mary walked up to Richard in order to help him find it. No matter how kind he was, it was undeniable he was slightly distracted, always missing things.

The nurse quickly handled Isaac his medication, along with some water, which he hastily took.

"I am glad to have met you, Isaac...I will certainly miss you"

Her words were the best she could come up with for a goodbye.

Before she knew, the cheerful couple had put him in a coat and were heading towards the exit, where a taxi awaited.

The boy practically hid himself in the coat, only his eyes peeking out of the hood. The car apparently both amazed and scared him, and he was reluctant about getting in.

Finally, Richard convinced him it would be fine, sitting by his side and even opening the window a bit, despite the rain.

The nurse waved goodbye as the car left, but never got the happiness of seeing the boy waving back.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Sound, color, chaos, disorder and confusion. The airport scared Isaac as only his mother had done before.

He felt as all of the others curled up in the corner of his mind and tried to calm themselves in their own ways. This was a Hell for them. Even Maggy, the brave girl that did not fear pain, fire, monsters or even the Devil himself, was terribly uneasy, spinning in circles and talking to her familiars.

There wasn't room for spinning here, thought, much less were there familiars to talk to.

All he could do was to hide in the coat, covering his face almost completely in a desperate attempt to try to make it disappear. The fact that Richard was holding his hand didn't help, either.

He had never seem so many people together… the only place that came close to this was his school, and even those memories were really faded by now. All he knew is that he didn't like school and he didn't like this place.

There were long lines in which he waited, trembling in fear and almost jumping whenever someone came close to him, which meant almost every second.

He wanted to leave. Everything was too loud, too intense, too weird and unfamiliar. Mary told him to breath slowly and hold on, that there wasn't a reason to worry.

She should say that to Isaac's friends, instead.

At some point, the noise became less terrifying, even if the lights were suddenly much brighter. Looking around, Isaac saw tables and a glass between the outside and a variety of weird kinds of food.

Mary sat in a chair and told Isaac to come sit too. Judas noticed the chair was extremely uncomfortable, like everything else in this world.

Richard talked to a lady near the glass thing with the food, handing her some dollars (Cain clapped his hands, nervous, telling Isaac how wrong it was, how the lady hadn't won any game to deserve the money) before returning to the table.

"What did you ask for him?"

"Just some warm milk and a sandwich, dear"

They both were smiling. Everything was going much better than they had expected it to! Isaac was nervous and trying to hide from everything, but this was nothing compared to what could have happened.

A couple minutes later, a waiter arrived with the food, smiling sympathetically at Isaac. Maybe he didn't know who that kid was, but the amount of scars on his face told enough of his story for anyone to pity him.

Two cups of coffe, one cup of chocolate milk and three sandwiches.

Isaac frowned at his food, examining the sandwich for a while before deciding to at least try to eat it all.

For the surprise of the two adults, Isaac gobbled down the milk without showing a trace of his usual mix of fear and disgust towards things he had never tried before.

The moment passed, thought, as he put the cup down, looking surprised with the milk's taste.

"Sweeter."

Mary giggled.

"What did you expect, after all?"

"Bitter, slimy, smelly. Like I found in my room!"

Why did everything good have to have something awful behind? Mary sighed. Isaac, on his side, started laughing. A nice, light, sincere laughter at how weird this chocolate milk tasted.

He should definitively start a run and get it, not horrible and vomit inducing anymore, but really good, sweet and warm like this one.

In a good mood now, he decided to eat the other thing before him, which looked weird, had no smell and an unpleasant texture. He bit it, a bit uncertain about it.

He regretted it deeply.

It was a mess of flavors and textures dancing in his mouth, so apart from everything he had eaten before that he almost spit it out in disgust. In fact, he probably did it, since suddenly a loud noise took his ears. People started talking, seemingly surprised, which just made everything even more confusing around him.

Judas demanded to get out, completely in panic, having had enough of his confinement, and this time, Isaac let him, sinking to the bottom of himself, apart from the chaos around.

The boy's high-pitched scream was a complete surprise to everyone in the little restaurant. The kid had just thrown up on the table, calling attention to himself while a janitor tried to clean it and his parents excused themselves repeatedly to the functionaries.

He fell to the ground and crawled under a table, screaming at the top of his lungs. Richard tried to reach him, but he refused, trying to bite him.

Judas was terrified. More than that, even. It was a form of primal fear intertwined with acute pains everywhere. Against his skin, the shirt felt like it was made out of spikes and the floor was like the entrance to a curse room He couldn't think straight. He vaguely knew that those people wouldn't harm him, but their horrible hands coming near contradicted that.

They would pull him back to the room. Mom would kill him and he would go to hell because he was a traitor. And Satan, who had always sent his demons to protect him out of pity, would feast on his flesh and drink his disgusting blood.

Maggy tried to push him away, but she couldn't, not brave enough to contradict his fear. Eve prayed loudly, even if he knew very well that this would only make him go to hell sooner. God hated him and had always hated because he was impure.

At some point, he stopped screaming and started crying, instead. Someone took him out the safe place, and he did not fight, having drained all of his energy by now.

It took half an hour, but finally, he felt better. A man he recognized took him to a bathroom, cleaning him the best he could and changing his clothes.

Judas trembled. He had let out everything that was wrong about this place in his outburst and wanted to go rest again. He reached out for Isaac, switching places with the nervous, but controlled kid just as he fell asleep.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

It wasn't too long before Isaac was woken up. He groggily opened his eyes, letting Cain partially react on his place, covering his ears in an attempt to protect himself from the deafening sound that took everything.

For a second, he thought he was back in the hospital. Everything was white and really cold, too. Outside, a weird street and people with machines.

A sweet voice reached him, despite the terribly loud noise.

"Oh, you are awake now!"

He looked around, finding Mary sitting by his side. Next to her, Richard read a magazine, visibly bored.

"Where are we?"

"Don't worry, we are in the plane, sweetie"

Didn't the nurse call him that too? It was a good thing. It meant he was safe, even if Cain hated this place with inch of his partial existence.

Mary giggled. She was relieved that Isaac was back to normal. His crisis in the middle of the restaurant had been scary, to say the least. The whole time after he had fallen asleep they were afraid of what would happen once he woke up.

The boy looked around himself, curious about the place. Mary noticed he was covering his ears, probably bothered by the turbines. Richard put the magazine aside.

"Are you feeling better, Isaac?"

"Cain hates this place. Why aren't we flying?"

"The workers are preparing the plane before we can fly. Just be patient, alright? Everything will be okay."

Richard's expression was full of concern. What would happen if he went out of control while still in the plane? Certainly this had been discussed, plans had been made to try to help the situation, but seeing the danger so close was completely different…

Mary took his hand, a calming gesture.

"Yes, everything will be okay"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Isaac couldn't believe what was happening when the plane took flight. It was a horrible sensation at first, but soon at went away and then, he looked out the window.

Everything went silent in his mind.

The world was becoming each time more tiny and distant as they ascended into the sky, nearer to God than to anything else. The rain clouds were broken through, revealing the sun far above.

He could barely breath, so in awe he was.

This was Heaven, wasn't it? The home of all angels…the most beautiful place in this world, where all the ones that hadn't sinned would be sent. He would never get to be there, but somehow, God had granted him the happiness of seeing it, even if only once in his sinful life.

Eve started crying out of happiness, followed by the absolute despair of Judas, who couldn't believe the same God that hated him was granting him this. Maggy started singing, full of happiness, and was soon followed by Cain and Samson.

"Do you like the clouds, Isaac?"

He nodded, never looking away from the window and its marvelous gift. A part of him decided that he loved planes just as much as Cain hated their sound.

Maggy's song slowly took everything, until he couldn't help but to sing along, his voice cracked by the sheer emotion of being in Heaven.

"_Jesus loves me this I know…for the Bible tells me so…_"

He never stopped singing until the bitter moment of saying goodbye to the sweet vision of the skies as he landed into another nightmarish airport where, at least, it wasn't raining anymore.

The moment of passing through the pearly gates into his new life.


End file.
